There’s Artwork To Racing Cup Cars

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is already a winner. His car has a winning paint job. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

By Nick Bromberg | Senior Correspondent
RacinToday.com

Daytona Speedweeks is my favorite part of every NASCAR season. The cars are on the track for the first time in race trim, all the changes that have been speculated upon and talked about for the previous six months are finally official and every team has a sense that this could be their year.

I also enjoy getting to see which teams changed paint schemes. Sure, it can be trivial, but as a fan, it’s a little harder to root for an ugly car. A lot of paint schemes are leaked during the middle of the offseason, but sometimes you just have to see what the car looks like on the track.

Best Overall Paint Scheme Change: Alright Junior Nation, here’s your chance to gloat. I love the changes that the #88 car underwent. The continuation of the white between the hood and the splitter on the front bumper makes the car look sleeker and classier. It was already a pretty good design to begin with, and now Dale Earnhardt Jr. may have the best looking car on the track. Honorable mention goes to Jimmie Johnson’s car, as I really like the white replacing the silver and I like how Tony Stewart’s Old Spice car looks, but I’m not a fan of the Office Depot car.

Worst Overall Paint Scheme Change: What the heck is that ugly thing that Martin Truex Jr. is driving? That NAPA car is hideous. The yellow stripes down the sides to make it look like the car is going fast look bad to begin with and the design of the number just makes it worse. Michael Waltrip’s #51 for the 500 and the Bud Shootout should become Truex’s permanent paint scheme. Much simpler, and more importantly, much less uglier. Second place goes to David Reutimann’s car, as the triangles of white overpower the dark blue and don’t make for a nice combination. It must be a MWR thing.

The “What Were They Thinking?” Paint Scheme Change: Hands down this award goes to Kurt Busch’s Miller Lite car. The blue deuce was one of the best paint schemes in NASCAR for the last few years. Perfectly simple, it had just one primary sponsor, one shade of blue and a lighter shade of blue trim at the bottom. I’m of the opinion that simpler is better with these boxy cars, because trying to sleek them up just never works out well. Whoever decided that it would be good to add the beer gold splashes around the bottom and sides should rethink being a designer.

The “It Doesn’t Look As Bad On Track” Paint Scheme Change: This goes to Jamie McMurray’s new car. I’m not a fan of the combination of camouflage (when does camo ever look good?) and hunter orange, but thankfully the camouflage is subdued enough that it’s not noticeable on television. (Insert “because it’s camo!” line here) While the scheme still is in the bottom third of paint schemes this year, it earns bonus points for the “kiss my bass” on the back.

Best Subtle Paint Scheme Change: I love the white splitter on Kasey Kahne’s Budweiser Ford. Richard Petty Motorsports could have gotten greedy like the Miller Lite team and made a significant design change with the manufacturer change, but instead, the splitter helps the Budweiser car stand out and adds a nice bit of white trim to a classy looking red car.

2 Comments »

I agree – Kurt Busch’s blue deuce looks horrible now, and it was one of the best paint schemes the last couple of years. Beauty in simplicity. As for Truex’s new ride, switching over to Mikey’s paint scheme would be a good thing, again, simplicity. And it would be cool to see Truex drive a white with blue lettering paint scheme in honor of his younger brother’s Camping World East championship from last year. That would be a cool tribute. Junior’s new ride looks good too, but I’d revert back to the white numbers on the roof like he had in his first year with Hendrick. It’s just easier to see from the stands. Jimmie’s new shceme is good too, so is the 17’s.